Lizzie Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristols housing boom, and he has everything to lose from social upheaval and the prospect of war.

Diner believes that Lizzies independent, questioning spirit must be coerced and subdued. She belongs to him: law and custom confirm it, and she must live as he wants.

But as Diners passion for Lizzie darkens, she soon finds herself dangerously alone.